Pakistani’s Malala invited to Buckingham Palace

Pakistani Malala Yousafzai gives a speech after receiving the RAW in WAR Anna Politkovskaya Award at the Southbank Center in London on Friday. The award was named after the Russian investigative journalist who was shot dead seven years ago. AFP PHOTO

LONDON: Pakistani schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai, shot last year by the Taliban for campaigning for girls’ schooling, has been invited to a Buckingham Palace reception to meet Queen Elizabeth II, officials said on Sunday (Monday in Manila).

The queen and her husband Prince Philip will host the event promoting education in Commonwealth countries on October 18.

“We understand that Malala Yousafzai will be attending the Commonwealth Universities and Education Reception at Buckingham Palace,” a palace spokesman said.

Academics and teachers will be among the guests at the October 18 event.

The announcement is the latest in a series of impressive accolades for Malala’s campaign for girls’ schooling.

The 16-year-old is also among the favorites to win the Nobel Peace Prize, which will be revealed on October 11.

During an interview with the British Broadcasting Corp.’s Panorama program to be aired later Monday, Malala said that winning the peace prize would be “a great opportunity” but that universal education remained her true goal.

“If I win Nobel Peace Prize, it would be a great opportunity for me, but if I don’t get it, it’s not important because my goal is not to get Nobel Peace Prize, my goal is to get peace and my goal is to see the education of every child,” she explained.

The teenager told of her plans to return to Pakistan, but only when she had received a full education and was “fully empowered,” and described the Taliban’s rule of fear which had led her to speak out in the first place.

“The Taliban’s punishments were like slaughtering people on the Green Chowk [the main square in Malala’s home town of Mingora], throwing acid on women’s faces or abusing them or killing them,” she said.

“I was afraid of my future. And at that time there was fear all around us, in every street and in every square of Mingora.”

Despite the threats, her father Ziauddin admitted that the family was still shocked by the attack on his daughter.

“We know the Taliban strikes hundreds of schools but they never targeted a child,” he told Panorama.

“We really didn’t expect [the attack]because we thought that they might have some values, terrorists might have some code of conduct,” he added.

Malala will publish on Tuesday her autobiography “I am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban.”